Liberal Democrats MP Max Wilkinson has questioned the wisdom of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's pledge to get all rough sleepers off the streets by Christmas, saying it needs to be a long-term plan.
During an appearance on GB News Breakfast, he reacted to Burnham's £442 million national drive to get every rough sleeper off the streets of England by Christmas. The plan combines £102 million in new immediate winter funding with £340 million previously earmarked for long-term settled housing.
MP's concerns over homeless people's needs
Speaking to presenters Ellie Costello and Alex Armstrong, Wilkinson said: "Well, if he manages to remove every single homeless person from the streets, in time for Christmas Day, and put them somewhere safe then I'm sure we will all be applauding him. It's a noble aim...My thoughts are that most of the homeless people that I've ever spoken to have a number of different problems in their lives."
He continued: "They might be addicts. They might have mental health difficulties. Some of them might just completely reject the notion that they would be safe if they were under a roof."
"So I think the prime minister has a really difficult task. At the heart of actually solving the problem in the long term, because we can't just talk about this for one Christmas, is the need to build much more social and council housing," he insisted.
"And if we get that right, we're much more likely to see fewer people on our streets."
Call for action on housing costs
He continued: "It comes back to the cost of living and cost of housing in general, which at the moment is one of the key concerns for voters across the country.
"It's something that we need to get a grip on as a nation at the moment. While he's made a few small early announcements, I think there is an awful long way to go," he said.
Burnham's previous pledge missed
The new Labour leader pledged to wipe out rough sleeping nationwide as he formally took office, having won the race to be prime minister by being the only candidate standing.
However in 2017, as mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham had vowed to end rough sleeping in the city entirely by 2020. Just two years later, in 2019, he was forced to admit he would miss his own target.
Official government statistics revealed that instead rough sleeping in Manchester climbed relentlessly, year after year.
